No. of Participants: 17

Topic of Discussion: "What is this Life?"

Samuel welcomed one and all to our Café-Salon gathering. Individual participants were asked to share a little bit about themselves, and why they chose to come tonight.

Alexandra invited a couple of her young friends who happened to be foreign exchange students. Azra is here from Turkey studying at CU. She likes to engage in conversation and converses in three languages - Turkey, English and German. Aysara is here from Russia and is also a CU student. Alexandra is a retired Social Worker who has hosted many foreign exchange students over the years.

Tony grew up in the Bronx and, boy, "don't you forget it!" He says, "life is a game of offense and defense, full of paradoxes in trying to discover who we are."

George was here visiting one of our Café participants, Debra. He is an art teacher in Oklahoma City and enjoys participating in philosophical discussions. Debra is enjoying time off from teaching high school science in Oklahoma. Her son attends CU.

Phil and his wife just moved to Boulder from Indiana. He is an electrical engineer who works for a software company. Andrew is a waiter at the Dushanbe Teahouse in Boulder. He came to Café-Salon "just to listen."

After personal introductions, Samuel then gave a brief history and introduction to The Meaning and Purpose of Café-Salon gatherings.

Some ideas for topics were, "What's at the end of the universe? Why am I here? What is our purpose? Why was I born? How does one work through the layers of the ego? Why do we escape into entertainment? What is the role of culture? What is wrong with escape? How do you define culture?

Conversation began by participants asking, why do we live in a competitive world? Why is "beating the competition" "out doing the other," having bigger, BETTER and MORE, any better?

We discussed how it seems the meaning of life has become one of seeking to "entertain" our selves. Full of thrills! Excitement! Action-Packed Adventure!

We have become obsessed and pre-occupied with electronics and technology. The technological age is etching out customer service, personal contact, and relating to people eye to eye. Transactions and exchanges with others is now being done by the push of a button.

Kids of today learn to live in the world of images and sounds of virtual reality rather than the present reality.

Courteousness, politeness and graciousness are becoming a thing of the past. We tend to blurt out and say anything we are thinking, rather than thinking about what we are saying. We fail to listen, and the art of conversation is slowly being lost.

"We need to find clarity of thought and being," says George. "This world tends to worship complexities," says Samuel. "The bombardment of the outer world can mask the psychic and confuse the truth. We lose sight of our inner selves. We forget the true nature of our being."

The question is, "How do you shape your key?" "How do you learn to open new doors?" asked Samuel. "We need to learn to rely on our own authority."

But, in this competitive world, it is a struggle to maintain our confidence, self esteem, self worth. We feel guilty, embarrassed, and uncomfortable for feeling good, doing things on our own.

"We are swimming in the dark ages, just merely living," says Samuel. "We are dead," says Tony. "We are beyond the ice age. We have lost the magic of our playful, child spirit. We need to figure out how to collapse the walls of the box," he continued.

Phil thinks individuals need to "find time to meditate," to get back in touch with the self.

"You know, the body is not only one of the most worshipped, adored, most precious objects on this earth, but, also one of the most abused, tortured, and misunderstood objects," says Samuel.

Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent (99.9%) do not know how to fully relate to their own bodies, let alone to other people. Lack of awareness in what we are thinking and doing, and dishonesty with our selves is rampant. Why is this?

"Most people try to escape from the truth," says Samuel. "It seems we are searching, searching, searching, but never finding a true answer for being," he continued. We fail to listen to our own inner wisdom and to others. We would rather form our next comment, than actively listen to what the other has to say.

Our next question was, How do we change? How do we discover new ways of thinking, doing and being while staying anchored and rooted in our bodies?

Debra asked, "How do you strip the layers of the ego? Get to the essence of who you are? Dare to be your self?"

"How do you use your body to find the answers to the questions in life?" asked George.

BodySpeak™ is one of the ways for learning how to do this, replied Samuel. George then asked for some information on BodySpeak™ training.

When one studies BodySpeak™ the body learns a new kinesthetic awareness for participating and engaging actively in a more orderly fashion physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Samuel says, "New tools are needed in order to retrain the mind and body, to help break through limited mind sets and physical limitations."

"Art is a good way to do that," says George. "I find it to be a good avenue for getting in touch with creative expression and the self," he continued.

We then "bounced" back to discussing the ego. What is it? Who is it? Who are you really? Tony says, "The ego is fear." Ken says, "The ego is leaving G_d out."

"The ego is a point of reference," says Ken. "Fixed beliefs and ideas that we have about what is the self. The ego really has no direct revelance to our true being," he continued.

"People think and talk too much," says Ken. "We do not truly listen. We do not know how to filter the garbage from the outside world. We are unable to accept real receiving because of the static and chaos.

Ken Cohen cited a passage from one of Larry Dossey's books, on energetics. Dossey states that, "the western world has spent too much energy trying to "explain" phenomenons, models, energetics, that can not be explained. The laws of the Universe do not fit into a model.

"Our brains are like radio receivers. We receive alot of information, but we do not know how to clearly transmit," he continued. We need to awaken our consciousness. Become more aware of our bodies."

Every cell has consciousness. Humans are unaware of how the dot becomes a line, and then begins to take on various shapes and forms. Depending upon what "the dot" (you are doing), can affect many, many people. It's like the rippling effect in a pond when a pebble is thrown in.

We need to get out of "swimming" and defining our world with words only. We have abused words for too long. We need to get back in touch with our bodies and discover what lies within.

Are you the director of your own life, or, are you like a puppet having your strings pulled by those around you? Do you exercise your freedom of choice? Or are you resolved to, "things won't change?" You do have the power of choice in this country. And the right to make your own decisions in what direction your life is going. All you need is the tools.

Studying BodySpeak™can give you those tools. I invite you to look at this website further.

Our next Café-Salon will be held November 4, 2000 at the Boulder Bookstore located at 1107 Pearl St. in Boulder. Start time is 6:30 p.m. See you there! Bring a new, interesting and exciting topic.

Reported by Alessandra